July 31, 2007

DAYTON, OH - University of Dayton graduate and 17-time NJCAA Region XII Tennis Coach of the Year Linda O'Keefe has been named women's tennis head coach following the resignation of Erica Echko, who stepped down in pursuit of a full-time school counseling position.

Since 1979, O'Keefe has been a professor at Sinclair Community College, where she enjoyed success as a multi-sport coach in the junior college rankings.

With Sinclair, O'Keefe coached tennis for 18 years and basketball for 25 years. She led the tennis team to 17 Region XII titles and 17 appearances in the NJCAA National Championships, where she won one national title. In addition, she posted Top 10 finishes in all 18 years, and coached more than 30 All-Americans and Academic All-Americans at Sinclair.

As a basketball coach, O'Keefe won more than 300 games, led Sinclair to three NJCAA Region XII Championships, and reached the Elite 8 in 2003.

After receiving her B.S. and M.S. in Physical Education from UD in the 1970s, O'Keefe was named to the Dayton Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987. In 1996, she was inducted to the NJCAA Women's Tennis Coaches Hall of Fame.

The Flyers lost just two seniors to graduation last season, and six recruits are expected to join the squad for the 2007-08 campaign.